Feature
- Computing
Straining for Speed
Hitting fundamental limits on how small they can make certain structures within semiconductor transistors, chip makers are deforming the silicon crystals from which those transistors are made to eke out some extra speed.
- Math
Computation’s New Leaf
Plants in which large numbers of simple units interact with one another appear to compute how to coordinate the actions of their cells effectively.
- Astronomy
Bare-Naked Galaxies
A decade's worth of observations is spotlighting how the vast sea of gas surrounding a cluster of galaxies can alter the shape of a galaxy plowing through it.
- Tech
Diagnosing the Developing World
Researchers are learning how to adapt sophisticated technologies to meet the health-care needs of the developing world.
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Code Breakers
Chemical tags applied to proteins that DNA wraps around regulate genetic activity.
- Animals
Where’d I Put That?
Birds that hide and recover thousands of separate caches of seeds have become a model for investigating how animals' minds work.
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What’s Worth Saving?
A fracas over a biological term could have huge consequences for conservation.
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Unsure Minds
A controversial set of studies indicates that monkeys and dolphins know when they don't know the answer to certain tasks, an ability that presumably relies on conscious deliberations.
- Tech
Virtual Nanotech
With computers becoming ever more powerful, researchers are simulating nanoscale materials and devices down to the level of atoms and even electrons.
- Earth
Danger on Deck?
The Environmental Protection Agency no longer allows residential installation of pressure-treated lumber and recommends the application of sealant to prevent leaching of carcinogens out of existing lumber structures.
- Health & Medicine
Telltale Charts
Overturning a basic tenet of conventional wisdom in cardiology, new research suggests that more than half the people who develop heart disease first show one of the warning signs of smoking, having diabetes, or having high blood pressure or cholesterol.
